Macclesfield Rugby Club is proposing to sell off part of its ground for housing to build a new clubhouse.

The club, which plays at Priory Park, wants to sell some it land on Priory Lane to Jones Homes to build 68 homes.

It will then use the cash from the sale to fund a new 21st Century clubhouse, which can offer function and conferencing facilities for the wider community, a new kitchen and a gym.

The original land and clubhouse will make way for housing, meaning the pitches will be reorganised to allow the club can retain four, full-sized adult pitches, while adding four small pitches for the mini and junior teams.

It also means the club can install proper drainage for its pitches and build a new clubhouse which allows more than one team to use them at a time.

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Chairman Peter Harper said the scheme was essential to ensure the club’s future.

He said: “The proposals seek to deliver a more sustainable future for the Club, that allows a consistent income stream delivered from new and exciting facilities, which would benefit not just the Rugby Club, but the wider community of Macclesfield.

“Our current facilities are not designed to maximise income and are in desperate need of modernisation, but even then, the layout and design of the club house isn’t functional, with no disabled access, a tiny kitchen and totally inadequate changing facilities.

“Currently, due to the layout, we can’t have Junior and Senior players, or female and male players, using the facilities at the same time.”

He added: “Our pitches are in dire need of major drainage and improvement works and can currently only be used once a week - less with the wet weather we’ve been having recently.

“Our Mini and Junior section are a hugely important part of the club, but due to the sodden pitches, they have had to cancel numerous training sessions and matches this season.

“We see this proposed development as essential to secure the future of Macclesfield’s most successful sporting club for generations to come, and we’re very aware that this opportunity may never come again.”

The club has been debating the plans, which have not yet been submitted to the council, since 2013.

A public consultation will be launched at the club tomorrow (February 23) from 3.30-7pm